all time. >> how much does this come down to trust? >> trust? as far as trust, this guy has to know what his animals are. >> can you ever trust the animals? >> wait a minute. >> jesus -- >> comes down to. >> never have i wanted to end a show more than i do right now. i wish i could say it's been a pleasure. it's been an experience. jack, that is all for us tonight i'm going to have a cold shower. good evening.

>> if you are looking for tonight's breaking news look out the window. just about anywhere east of the mississippi there is something to see. much of it seasonably nasty. the kind of stuff tieing up travel. the rest is unexpected. dozens of tornados, out of season and out of the blue, in your face. >> oh, my god we need to go. it is right there. keep recording, we got to hurry up and get past this. >> one view of the massive storm as it moved through the mobile, alabama area. now here's another. >> my god look that is a tornado. oh, wow. jesus look at that tornado. my god that is cool. jesus please keep your hands on

whoever's over there. look at them. that is like two tornados. it's two funnels on the ground. oh lord. look there. wow. oh, oh, my god, look at that. look there is another one it is fixing to touch down. we're fixing to have to get in the bathroom. it's coming toward us. >> you don't expect a tornado in december but in the south like in little rock, arkansas you don't expect much know but they got it. nine inches, in fact, more than they've seen in 86 years. it's more common farther north but rarely so much at once. a foot and a half or more in the northeast. it is enough to make you want to stay put and watch cnn. we have everything you need to know tonight.

from wherever everywhere it matters starting with alexandra steele. who is getting hit the hardest right now. they are not going anywhere. here is a look at the radar picture. the white will show where the rain is, the green and red delineating where the heavy rain is. but here is where the snow is. it has lifted out. illinois, indiana, ohio, clearing conditions there. but, right along i-90 that is where the heaviest snow is. and where new york state and new jersey we'll see that rain lift up. washington improving conditions. new york city very heavy rain and very gusty winds. that is part of the problem with this storm and has been since the beginning. we are seeing the swaths of snow but the winds are so strong. in the last three hours 40 mile per hour wind gusts in new york city.

26 in buffalo and cleveland and indy. so again, the snow clearing out of illinois and indiana but look at what it has left behind. in areas of illinois, 18 inches. in indy, 7 inches, kentucky, 4 inches. and here's what's left of it. the whole storm lifting to the north. upstate and western new york getting 5 to 9 inches of snow. nine to 12 inches in northern new york and the green and white mountains of new hampshire. >> and of course all anybody wants to know is when can we expect to see the weather improve around the country? >> it will. it is going to improve. we are going to watch this move. here is the area of low pressure we are watching. here's the time stamp tonight at 10:00. right on the money. here is where that low pressure is right over washington where is it an but it is going to the north. so tonight into tomorrow, you see the clearing out. much of pennsylvania by tomorrow morning is clear by 6:00 a.m. new york state ensconced in snow by tomorrow.

we head toward noon, you can see it lifting from north to south. by friday, into maine. it finally by thursday night you can see where it is it moves out on friday. there is another storm brewing that we'll have to talk about later for new england also taking a similar track for new year's eve and new year's eve day. >> we'll have to keep an eye on that. >> these are holiday storms. they only come at the holidays. >> thank you. well, if you are watching tonight, there is a good chance that you are watching after a flight has been delayed. or trying to reschedule after a flight cancellation. as always when a big storm blows through, the entire airline system feels it. holley furfur is in atlanta right now. cancellations are bad right now and the worst might not be over. >> reporter: that's right, randi. about 1400 flights have been

canceled right now. as the storm heads to new england, as alexandra said, tonight and tomorrow, the numbers might get worse. delays in airports from detroit to new york. an hour, hour and a half. in philadelphia, two and a half hours they're waiting. it's not just the passengers getting frustrated. some of the pilots as well. listen to an american airlines pilot who had been sitting on the tarmac for five hours with a plane full of passengers. listen to announcement he made on board. >> it is beyond reproach. i have no words to tell you how sorry i am for all this. decisions are being made way above our heads by people that obviously in my humble opinion don't have a clue what they're doing. >> reporter: according to american airlines the problem they say was that they put safety first and they were worried about deicing the plane. the storm came so fast and they

were concerned about the safety of their passengers before they were worried about takeoff time. this is going to continue into tomorrow. we've already heard 90 flights are being canceled for tomorrow as the storm continues. if you are planning on traveling, it is best to call your airlines ahead of time so you are not waiting in the airports. >> holly, that's a look at the airports. what about the roads and those planning to hit the roads? >> reporter: the roads are just as bad. they are treacherous. in the midwest the roads are icy. look at this video we got earlier from indianapolis. an 18 wheeler slid off of an icy road and had to be towed to safety. the midwest not strangers to winter weather and winter storms. the indianapolis pacers cancelled an nba game tonight with the chicago bulls because they were concerned about people on the roads. it's too dangerous on the roads there. greyhound cancelled most of

their midwest to east coast buses. so it is a mess everywhere. they're telling people, check if you are planning on going somewhere because it most likely will be canceled, especially if it's a plane or bus. >> holly, thank you very much. as we have been showing you. whether by air or by road there is nothing easy or simple about getting around tonight. they have been hammered in the midwest and now the northeast is bearing the brunt. inez ferre is in syracuse tonight. what are the conditions looking like right now? >> reporter: randi, it already started snowing here, and the heavier snow is expected to last four or five hours. and syracuse is expecting about a foot of snow. what you are seeing behind me is accumulation from previous snowstorms in the last four days they have gotten 13 inches of snow here. >> a big concern is visibility. overnight as the storm gets heavier, what can you tell us

about that? >> reporter: right, visibility and also ice. that's one of the problems, snow falling on top of snow and ice in some areas. even when we got out of our car we almost slipped in one area. that is why the city has plows throughout the area. they have been sprinkling salt in anticipation of the snowstorm. now city officials say that syracuse is used to this amount of snow. the challenge tonight is this amount of snow in such a short period of time and it's been almost two years since syracuse has seen one foot of snow all in one shot, randy. >> thank you for the update from syracuse. a lot more happening tonight. late news on avoiding the tax hikes and budget cuts that could sink the economy. president obama is rushing back to washington. the question is what kind of reception will he get from the lawmakers he has been negotiating with. dana bash is doing some digging, so does david gergen and the rest of our political insiders.

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late breaking news to report. hawaii's governor naming a successor to late senator inouye. he had recommended u.s. rep in a letter sharply before he died. with six days before we go off the fiscal cliff, president

obama is cutting his hawaii vacation short, flying back to washington, uncertain what kind of deal making possibilities he will find when we will come back. republican leaders made no decision about when to call their members back nor it is clear what kind of deal, if any, they will have to vote on. a lot of digging tonight for cnn's dana bash. i understand there were no decisions out of this call, but do we have any sense of what fellow. >> rob:s are telling speaker boehner? how likely are we to see a vote in time to avoid going of the cliff? >> it really is up in the air. i'm told in part that's why house. >> rob:s didn't make a decision to bring the house back or when to do it because the ball really is in the senate's court, specifically with senate democrats. that has changed big time since a few weeks ago. at this point what they are trying to figure out is whether or not they can find enough republicans to cross party lines for what the president proposed right before he left for hawaii

which is a scaled-back bill focusing on tax cuts and on what he campaigned on which is only keeping the cuts in place for those making under $250,000. is it a big ask to get ten senate republicans to get them to cross over. they think with the deadline that they're up against, it's going to be hard to go back home and say, i let everybody's taxes go up. >> so what do we know about it? >> it is still being crafted and that is part of the dance that's being done in these next few days which is exactly what do democrats have to put into this in order to lure those republicans if anything. is there anything they can do. fundamentally, for most republicans voting for the president's plan which would raise taxes on the top 2%, which is something most. >> rob:s campaigned fervently

against, they're not going to go for it. but perhaps, democrats think if they can add an extension of the estate tax cut or put tax extenders in there they can lure some republicans. but that is part of the negotiation that's going to go on behind the scenes between democrats and one by one republican after republican. what do you need in order to come to the table. >> the senate democrats saying they think it's best to wait until the very last minute. why is that? >> this is going to make voters and viewers so happy i'm sure. the reason is because they know the reality. and they have seen it time and time again, congress acts when they are up against a deadline and not before. we are close to it. but it won't be until they are facing the cliff and teetering off the edge that the republicans will say fine, uncle, i'll go for this even though i don't think it's the right thing. but i've got to tell you, randi, still for the most part, democrat and. >> rob: sources do think that the most likely scenario is going off the cliff, and the

reason is because, again, this is not going to make voters or viewers happy, is because politically it's going to be a lot easier for members of congress to vote for a tax cut which will be what they will be voting for if everybody's taxes go up, than right now what they're voting for, at least some people a tax increase. >> dana bash, thank you. more raw politics with david gergen, maria car gug go and alex stewart. good to see all of you. maria, i'll start with you. you've been around washington for white a while and have watched these 11th hour negotiations. it seems that democrats will not budge on their insistence that the taxes be raised for the wealthiest americans. does it seem we're headed off the cliff? >> it does. i think a couple of things are at work here. the first one is you said it.

democrats are not going to budge. and i don't think that they should. if there was one thing that was clear about what president obama and the democrats campaigned on, this past election cycle and by the way he won, was exactly this fallback plan or the small piece of tax cuts being extended for 98% of american families and 97% of small businesses. there is a bill in the senate sitting there right now that the house could actually vote on. they don't need to wait for anything to pass the senate. the house could call a vote on it right now and 98% of america's families could see protection of their tax cuts extended. so i think that is a strong position for the democrats. they won on this. the majority of american people agree that the 2% of the wealthiest in this country can afford to pay a little bit more. most wealthy people agree with that.

>> let me bring alice in here. you say you believe president obama and leaders prefer to go over the cliff so they can raise taxes and blame the gop, but. >> rob:s do have the option of locking in tax cuts for most americans right now. >> i think the president does want to do that because as you said he can increase taxes, continue cuts on the military and point the finger at. >> rob:s. but the truth of the matter is we need to have serious spending cuts. this is not an issue that is going to be resolved with taxes right away. the house has issued legislation that would extend the tax cuts and also erase military cuts. and it's in the senate's hands and they need to act on that. but something else that came up, it's critical and a reminder in

this scenario, secretary geithner issued a letter today warning the country that we are going to hit the debt ceiling on new year's eve. this is just a stark reminder that we have out of control spending in this country and congress needs to wake up and smell the coffee that the spending needs to be addressed first and foremost not just raising taxes on americans. >> so david, hard to believe that we are still talking about this. did you see it happening like this? is washington so broken they can't find a compromise? >> i must confess i'm a short-term pessimist but a long-term optimist. the country will get back on track but it will take a while. this is extraordinary in two ways. damage has been done because of this craziness in washington. business plans are down. business sentiment is down. we're going to pay a price this next year regardless if we go off the cliff. how extraordinary is it? the senate hasn't acted or

called back to act on a bill between christmas and new year's for 49 years. the first time in 49 years the senate has had to come back like this. i think the prospects are strong that we are going to go over the cliff. they're high because the differences are so big. the republicans are going to clearly get most of the blame if we go over the cliff on taxes but the republicans have an argument. look, the president promised us for every one dollar of tax increases he would put on the table two and a half dollars of spending decreases. the dollars for tax increases are on the table but the spending decreases are not on the table. the. >> rob:s will pay the price. >> when you look at the. >> rob:s, was it a mistake for. >> rob:s to get into this fight over taxes? they could have had a more popular message about cutting deficit spending, right? >> the truth is they would have been a lot better off taking the deal that boehner was negotiating with president obama

way back when. it was a better deal all the way around. they missed that moment. but i think the real thing is who pays the price. the people who are going to pay the price are the americans, the middle class. this is crazy. it's nuts to be putting us through this. >> maria, all the focus on tax cuts. but the revenue from increasing the taxes on the wealthy will barely make a debt in the deficit to say nothing of the trillions in debt we're talking about. is this just a symbolic fight that the president is determined to win off his election? >> it's not symbolic. there will be money raised if the tax cuts for the top 2% are left to expire. but let me just bring up a point. no democrat and certainly not this president has said there should be no spending cuts. on the contrary this president has put on the table quite an extraordinary amount of spending cuts to the chagrin of many democrats i might add. are they to the extent the grand

bargain was last year? no, of course not. the president is in a much stronger political position right now. let's remember that this president has never walked away from the bargaining table. the speaker of the house has walked away twice now. so david's right. republicans will get the blame politically. does that mean that we shouldn't continue to try? no. because ultimately americans are the ones who are going to be hurt if -- especially the middle class families and remember there is a bill today in the senate where the house could pass it tomorrow if they wanted to to protect the majority of america's middle class families. >> even so, alice, which is the worst political fate for. >> rob:s, going over the cliff or voting to increase taxes on wealthy americans and some small businesses? if we go over the cliff the republicans didn't vote for an increase and vote for a tax cut in the new year and look pretty good, right?

>> the point is not what looks worse for republicans or democrats it's what is worse for the american people. >> doesn't that seem to be what they are worried about? >> what the. >> rob:s are concerned with most is this out-of-control spending. your point about tax increases, what we are looking at now, it is like a mortal wound to our chest. we have blood gushing out of our chest and president obama and the democrats come along and put a band-aid on our forehead, and we continue to have problems coming out of a different area, and they're not addressing the real problem. we need to attack the spending. if we give the president every tax increase that he wants, we have a trial dollar debt every year. >> and the president has addressed that. no one is saying that there should be no spending cuts. he has done that. >> david? >> ultimately, listen, guys, we've got to find a bridge to

get across. >> absolutely. >> what are the ways that we can agree on that will help us through that. i would worry if we spend the next three or four days of a time of semi crisis for the country getting back in our fox holes and shoot across at each other. we have to come out of the fox holes. you know our international reputation is going to suffer yet once again. every other country in the world and watching this is going to say is america prepared to lead. if we can't solve this, the conclusion has to be you can't trust these guys. >> if the nation slides into a recession as many forecasters predict, isn't it pretty easy to imagine the blame being equally spread around washington? >> i think the republicans will pay the biggest price in the beginning. how it gets resolved over time, i'm not sure. the president so far has the fact is the republicans have been losing the message war on that. everybody knows that.

the fact is it's being painted as a party too extreme and too far to the right. for its own sake it need to listen to the right of center not the far right to figure this out. the republican party can repair itself over time. but right now it has to act as if the country's needs come first. what do we need to do to protect the country's welfare. if that spirit takes hold here -- we all thought it would come with the end of elections. it didn't. then we thought it would come with the shootings in connecticut. it hasn't come. maybe they can say we're above this and stand for something bigger than this petty bickering. >> we'll see. >> the voice of reason. >> if i -- as a mother, this whole scenario makes it tougher to show your children how adults act. i don't want to show them how washington is acting. it's exactly the opposite. my daughter and my son are

getting along much better at christmas, imagine that, with sharing with all the toys than the leaders in washington. exactly. >> maria cardona, alice stewart, david gergen, nice to see you, thank you. >> late developments as well concerning the health of america's 41th president, george h.w. bush. he's been in the hospital for weeks. dr. sanjay gupta is here to explain what exactly is going on.

former president george h.w. bush spent christmas in the intensive care unit at houston's methodist hospital. he is 88 years old and has developed a stubborn fever and has been in the hospital since sunday. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins me by phone. it was expected he would be going home for christmas. but he is still in the icu. how dangerous is bronchitis and this subsequent fever for someone his age? what are the potential complications here? >> reporter: the age plays a big role here. bronchitis is something that can be easily treated and oftentimes -- some of the times it needs antibiotics to treat it.

in you and me it would be a pretty easy thing to treat. the fact that he's had a bronchitis and was on the general care floor and went back to the intensive care unit with a fever probably indicates that the bronchitis was either not completely treated the first time around or it came back. it was treated but came back pretty quickly. and both of those things we take seriously. as you might guess the biggest concern might this turn into pneumonia. bronchitis an infection of the airways and pneumonia an infection of the lungs. one thing i read into his that i think is important is he is talking to his doctors. he is joking around with his doctors, shows his spirit and shows he is not needing assisted breathing or a breathing machine and that is a good sign. >> as we said, he has been hospitalized now for more than a month. to a lot of people that sounds a

very serious. his spokesman says he is in guarded condition in the intensive care unit. what exactly does that mean, sanjay? >> guarded is one of these terms that is not a formal medical term. when yoi you think of medical terms, you think of someone in serious condition, in critical condition. this is somewhere in between. i think that's the best way to describe it. when i take care of patients in the intensive care unit and we say they're guarded we are keeping an eye on several things. that could be the lungs or someone's kidney function or neurological status. we don't know what this means particularly with the former president. but he needs to be in the intensive care unit because we need around-the-clock monitoring. and all of his vital signs and there are things that we are trying to prevent from basically going in the wrong direction. they haven't done that yet to become a critical situation but we are worried enough there are several things to keep an eye on and the icu is the best place

for that to happen. >> and the former president's spokesman also said he's on a liquid diet. does that tell you anything in particular? >> that's a very interesting thing. there are a couple of reasons. first of all, someone cannot eat solid food. that would be the most obvious reason. they don't have appetite or having difficulty swallowing. the former president talked about the fact he may have a form of parkinson's. that's how he describes it. people who have parkinson's disease have difficulty swallowing. the other thing is, as someone developing infections in and around the airways, randi, sometimes it becomes more difficult for them to protect their airway. when they eat something they have a greater risk of aspirating it and it goes down their windpipe or their trachea. that's some of the reasons they are on a liquid diet as well. but the main important thing in the icu is a patient -- the former president needs to get

the calories he needs to heal. however they can give it to him, solid or liquid, that's the most important thing. >> sanjay, appreciate it. thank you very much. >> you got it. thanks, randi. >> susan hendricks joins me with a 360 bulletin. >> randy former south african president nelson mandela is home from the hospital. he will continue to receive treatment. the 94-year-old is being treated for a lung infection. he had surgery to remove gallstones. he has not appeared in public since 2010. syria's chief of military police has defected to join the revolution. in a video posted on youtube which cnn cannot verify he says syria's army has deviated from the mission to protect the country while carrying out massacres against innocent civilians. >> the two firefighters who survived the sniper ambush in webster, new york will be upgraded to satisfactory condition. they were shot monday while responding to a house fire.

the two firefighters who were killed will have funerals on sunday and monday. nbc's david gregory may have violated d.c. gun laws. during an interview on "meet the press" he held up a high-capacity magazine which is illegal in the district. the washington metropolitan police department is investigating. >> thank you very much. up next, big news if you drive a toyota or have been watching our exclusive reporting on cars that owners say accelerated out of control. a billion dollar settlement to tell you about and more when "360" continues.

big news, a billion dollars worth in fact. a story that 360 has been out in front of. toyota today announcing a massive payout, $1.1 billion dollars to settle a lawsuit to customers who say their cars went out of control. over 16 million people may be covered by the settlement which covers a record fine toyota paid federal regulators earlier this month. "360" has been on this since the beginning. back in february, drew griffin uncovered a link between the acceleration and toyota software that highlighted an internal

memo that the company concedes it did not give to federal investigators. his story featured a customer who said she is convinced that her brand new lexus surged ahead on its on. >> reporter: tonya sputz thought that the problems with suddenly accelerating toyotas were old news which is why she bought the car of her dreams, this 2011 lexus ef350 last june. >> did you think it was solved? >> i thought it was solved. the federal government tested toyota. they said it was floor mats or a sticky throttle or something like that and i believed the government. >> 7,000 miles later on the day after christmas. she said she was pulling into a parking spot at a local mall gently riding the brake, she says -- take a listen. >> the car lurched forward and hit the cement wall in front of us.

>> she jammed on the brakes so hard, she says, she strained ligaments in her foot causing massive swelling. the dealer insisted she call the toyota contain lawyer. >> and you won't drive this again? >> i will not. >> toyota has never conceded that electronics or a software problem could be responsible for the problem. but drew found a document that is written in japanese with english translation that shows one instance what an electronic software problem was discovered. toyota says this has nothing to do with unintended acceleration. other safety experts disagree. drew griffin is here. first a big settlement earlier this month and now this. is this an admission by toyota that they really did have a problem with sudden, unintended acceleration? >> absolutely not, randi. from the beginning the company

maintained it does haven't a sudden unintended acceleration problem. certainly nothing wrong with the electronic throttle control system. the company said it was three things. stuck gas pedals, stuck floor mats and operator error which they believe was tonya's case. they believe she stepped on the gas instead of the brake. so what's this settlement all about, why settle? this is what the legal officer said in a statement today. this was a difficult decision since evaluations and evidence have confirmed the safety of toyota's electronic throttle control systems. however we concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interest of the company, the employees, dealers and most of all, randi, our customers. the court trials are creeping up on toyota a lot of lawyers asking for a lot of documents and depositions and this settlement keeps all those

records out of the public just like the records we found on "ac 360" last february. it's a way for toyota to say we're keeping this out of court. >> who gets the money from the settlement? >> the bulk will go to customers past and presence and that includes a brake override system for all the vehicles that had a problem with floor mats getting stuck. for toyota owners like tanya who actually sold their cars during the crisis when the sales and values of owners' cars plummeted, toyota set aside $250 million to compensate owners for the loss. there's going to be a separate $250 million to compensate owners who don't qualify for that brake override system. and all 16 million current owners will be eligible for a warranty of certain parts related to sudden unintended acceleration. the warrantees are from three to

ten years. and clearly the intent is to turn the page just like toyota said put the legacy legal issue behind the company. sales are up. sales are good. the company can afford it. they hope this just puts the unintended acceleration in the past. >> drew, thanks vb very much. just ahead, remembering emilie, anna and josephine. their funerals were the last ones in the newtown tragedy. tonight we remember the mark these three first graders made. 

no one could have predicted how life would change 12 days ago in newtown, connecticut. this has been a wrenching time and many difficult days lie ahead. there are no adequate words to describe the murder of 20 first graders and six staffers at sandy hook elementary school. since the tragedy the town's police officers have worked around the clock. there have been so many funerals and grieving families to assist. yesterday they got a much needed break. officers from police departments across the state stepped in so the first responders could have a day off. the last of the funerals were held over the weekend. three little girls who had barely begun their lives. we remember them tonight. >> ana marquez green is

remembered as someone who loved picture problems, arts and crafts and ballet and loved people fiercely. she was known for her singing voice bigger than her size. ♪ come though all mighty king >> reporter: just 6 years old, ana grew up with music in her ears and her love of singing was evident before she could talk. her father is a musician and college music instructor. his 2009 album features a song he wrote about her entitled "ana grace." ana never walked anywhere. according to her family, her mode of transportation was dance. she leaves behind her parents and brother isaiah, also a student at sandy hook elementary. he was unharmed. on a facebook page set up by her family her mother write's i know

this is your best christmas yet at home with your lord and savior. as your mom i just wish we could have had a few more to celebrate here on earth. ♪ amen >> josephine grace gay turned 7 before her life was cut short. known to her family as joey she was to have a birthday party the day after the shooting with many of her sandy hook classmates. mourners at her funeral were encouraged to wear purple in her honor. her parents say joey rarely left the house without wearing something purple. she loved to play with her barbie doll, ipad, swim, swing and be anywhere with her sisters. josephine's parents said she was autistic and could not speak but she touched the lives of so many around her. teachers, therapists, friends, neighbors, all loved and cherished her. they called her spirit indomitable.

emilie parker, at just 6 years old, she was also a teacher. >> she was a mentor to her two little sisters, in teaching them to read, dance and find the simple joys in life. her laughter was infectious and all those who had the pleasure to meet her would agree that this world is a better place because she has been in it. >> reporter: at her funeral mourners were encouraged to wear her favorite color, pink. her family moved to newtown from utah eight months ago because her father got a job in the local hospital caring for newborns. her funeral was held back in utah. >> emilie was an example to not only her big sisters but to her family. to all her little friends. and now she's become an example to the world about purity, innocence, tragedy and

forgiveness. >> we remember tonight. we'll be right back.

we are just days away from the most unpredictable night of the year here on cnn. i'm talking of course about new year's eve when anderson and kathy griffin co-host our live coverage from times square. you never know who to expect

when they team up. here's something you can count on. just like last year viewers will have a chance to see their own new year's messages on air. tweet using #cnnnye or on our facebook page. anderson and kathy are gearing up for their big night. here's a preview. >> we're going to break it down this year. >> yeah. >> and this year the mask is coming off. >> the what is? >> the mask. >> what mask? >> the secrets that you have been keeping. i don't mean the obvious one that i'm bored with. i mean the darker secrets. this this year you are in my baby bjorn sobbing and that's my 10/20. >> i like that image of me in a baby bjorn sobbing.

>> i'm getting one and you will be ctching me like the clone monkeys where they are holding each other for safety. >> we tried to get the monkey from ikea because i'm obsessed with that monkey. >> you're obsessed with a monkey from ikea? >> you must have seen the monkey that got loose in the shearling coat. >> yes. that is considered big booking for the show, the monkey that got loose in ikea? >> that is just a taste of what you're going to get. this is their sixth year together. new year's eve live with anderson cooper and kathy griffin starts at 10:00 p.m. eastern from times square. all this week we are counting down the top ten redick lift laos stories of 2012. we asked you to vote online. number 10 and number 9 are posted online.

tonight we reveal number eight. >> time for "the ridiculist." and we are adding a piece of exercise equipment from a korean infomercial and follows very closely in the suggestive footsteps as things such as the thigh master and shake weight. [ speaking foreign language ] >> hey now. wow. that is not just suggestive. now there is a language barrier of course. but from what we can gather, this piece of exercise equipment finally addresses a very common problem, that problem being when you desperately want to ride a horse in your living room but when you try to mimic the motion without any equipment, you are very likely to fall down.

[ speaking foreign language ] >> see, problem solved, finally a way to pelvic thrust your way to fitness without falling on the floor. all we have in this country is the shake weight which looks down right demure by comparison. >> it is going to kick your butt. >> that is it. >> you just shake it back and forth. >> forget the whole demure by comparison thing. it looks like a "saturday night live" sketch. >> introducing the shake weight commercial dvd. the commercial three times on a loop, some static and then nothing else. >> this dvd is great. first, you can show your friends it's an actual commercial. that's kind of cool. >> i'm sorry all i can think of when i see the shake weight is when i was playing a game on a watch on andy cohen'at